The 411 On Why Being Vegan Is As Easy As Pie

My favorite iPhone app that also just happens to save animals

Before 2014, chances are you could usually find me in the makeup isle of CVS googling if a company tests on animals. What has happened since 2014? The Cruelty-Cutter app happened.

For those of you not familiar with this life changing app, let me break it down for you. The app is run by the Beagle Freedom Project, a non-profit that rescues animals from laboratories and spreads awareness on the horrors of animal testing. The purpose of the app is to scan any product, whether it be a beauty product or cleaning product, and see if it was tested on animals. The scanner works so quickly and in a split second, tells you if the product is cruelty free or not.

This app is great because it is SO easy to use. It shows people who maybe aren’t as invested in stopping animal testing that it is quick and easy to find out if a brand tests on animals. It makes shopping cruelty free accessible. And for those of us who are super invested in only shopping cruelty free, it makes shopping 100 times easier than it ever was before!!

When I first downloaded this app 2 years ago, I went around my house scanning all of my beauty and cleaning products (even if I already knew they didn’t test on animals!) because the app is SO fun to use.

It’s also free in the app store which is a huge bonus!

I love the cruelty-cutter app because it is yet another daily reminder of why animal testing is SO unnecessary. For one reason, it is disgustingly unethical. The things they do to animals in laboratories would put anyone in jail if they were performed outside a lab, but because they are done in the name of “science,” they are protected by laws and cannot be penalized. I say science in quotes because many experiments and tests have already been performed before and have no real purpose. I’m not one to post photos for shock value, but I strongly urge you to google animal testing photos if you have never educated yourself on the subject before. It’s GROSS. (And really sad!!)

Even though I was always against animal testing, a little part of me sort of assumed that there had to be some compelling arguments as to why we should test on animals, because it’s “all in the name of science” and so many companies perform animal testing. After my internship last summer at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine as a Toxicology and Regulatory Testing Intern, I quickly learned that this is so. not. true. It’s actually kind of pitiful the amount of information we have as to why we should not test on animals vs. the amount of information we have saying that we should.

If there are alternatives to animal testing that are cheaper, easier, and faster, then why are we still using these antiquated practices and torturing and killing more than 100 million animals each year? Makes nooooo sense to me.

Back to the app though. The cruelty-cutter app is LIFE CHANGING for those of us who would google “is ___ tested on animals?” in the middle of the shampoo isle and hope that the wifi in the store doesn’t quit/someone doesn’t crash into your with their cart/you can even find if the product is cruelty free or not/etc.

It majorly helps us find out if products are tested on animals or not, it’s quick and easy, and it’s free. It can’t get much better than that!

I was *just* saying to my sister last week how it would be so much easier to go CF shopping if I had an app that told me instead of Googling every little thing. Oh my gosh, this has changed my life. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

I share the EXACT same opinion as you! Thank you soooooo much for sharing this. I 100% agree with everything you mentioned about animal testing and animals being completely different to humans. I’m definitely downloading the app now. Thank you so so much, well said and well written.